1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to thermal pads for applying temperature controlled therapy to parts of a person's body. More particularly, this invention pertains to a plurality of thermal pads that are readily configured to fit about various body portions and are connectable to a temperature controlled liquid fluid pumping unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is advantageous to selectively apply a thermal treatment to patients. Hypothermic treatment is useful for emergency treatment of injured persons, particularly those who have experienced head trauma. Cooling the brain immediately after a trauma event often can protect the brain and/or prevent or reduce injury to the brain. But, not only the brain benefits from cooling treatment. A common first aid for sports injuries is to apply ice or cooling to the injured area.
Cooling treatment is also useful for providing comfort. Many menopausal women have found relief from hot flashes by using cooling treatment to quickly lower their body temperature during the onset of a hot flash.
Physicians have used various devices and techniques to cool the human body, including pharmacological cooling and various types of mechanically induced cooling. Mechanically induced cooling approaches generally fall into one of three categories: conductive, convective, or evaporative. While different implementations have been tried, many are limited by lack of practicality, difficulty of use, ineffectiveness, and/or excessive power consumption.